Place:
Kediagaon, Sabarkantha district
Witness: Arjubehn Ayubbhai Sindhi
(30), lone survivor from a truckload of fleeing Muslims, most of whom were
burnt alive.

(Arjubehn’s
complaint to the police was recounted to CC by Ahmed
Hussain Raliya during an interview at Iqbal Primary School Relief Camp,
Godhra, on March 22. Raliya is part of the managing committee of this relief
camp.)

After
the burning of the train bogey on the 27th, hell broke loose in the district.
From that evening itself the first victims from different parts of Panchmahal
district started arriving at this camp — Iqbal Primary School. Some have
been accommodated in the madrassa. On March 20, 80 more persons have
come from Baria.

The systematic
attacks in Panchmahal district began after Friday namaaz on February
28, the day of Gujarat bandh. The villages that were affected are Sanjeli (500
houses burnt), Randhikpur (70 houses burnt), Piplod, Fatehpura, Pandharwada,
Salia, Narapur, Mora, Khanpur, Anjanwa, Chatkabeli, Kothamba, Sargava Mohali,
Gangadra.

In all, 94 villages
are affected; in many, the minority population has simply been wiped out.
Fifteen masjids were destroyed in Lunavada, Khanpur and Santrampur.
There are relief camps running at Kalol, Baria, Lunavada, Shehra and Halol.

Motiraanthon
the Rajasthan border, Karvai, Dithraj and Manirathare all towns where
Muslims had reasonably prosperous businesses. These were all targetted and
destroyed.

We have a 30-year-old
woman, Arjubehn Ayubbhai Sindhi, who survived and is staying in the Modassa
Camp. She is the lone survivorand eyewitness to this terrible
incident. In Kediagaon of Sabarkantha district, after the Godhra tragedy in
Gujarat on February 27, the Muslim population from the village fled in two
tempos after their neighbours created a huge threatening atmosphere in the
night. On the Lunavada Modasa highway, at Babalia, a village just on the
border of Panchmahal district, two motorcycles with three persons each, with
guns in their hands, started chasing the two vehicles.

The road had also
been blocked with large stones. One tempo broke down at the junction of
Limbadya Chowki, Karanda and Lunavada. The passengers were surrounded by
1,000-2,000 strong mobs. It was a brutal attack. They ripped the tyres and
attacked the occupants with dhariyas. Yusufbhai Bakrawala from
Motiraanth, along with two boys from Lunavada, was trying to escape from the
mobs when they were attacked. They ran till the mobs caught up with them, beat
them mercilessly and killed them.

Later, 60-65 persons
were burnt alive. Arjubehn, the eyewitness who is presently at Modassa Camp
has made a complaint to the police. She has stated all the facts. In all, 67
persons are missing but only 8 bodies were recovered for post-mortem. The
complaint for the deaths caused to persons travelling in only one of the
trucks had been recorded. The police have not recorded any further evidence.
This eyewitness can identify the culprits. One is the taluka panchayat
pramukh, Kalubhai Malwad, who belongs to the BJP. He has been arrested.

On the highway, there
were Tata Sumos moving around tracking persons who were trying to flee.
Refugees from the other villages on the Gujarat side of the Rajasthan border
have crossed over and are in the Pithgaon Camp. The army found two bodies of
the three, who were caught when the fisherfolk handed them over ten days
later. There was no trace of Yusufbhai’s body – only bones were found.

On March 7, in the
same area, one Muslim, Arab Saiyedbhai, was killed in police firing. The
police never killed anyone from the mobs.

This
is one of the most horrendous incidents to have happened in Gujarat.

On February 21, my mother,
cousin, friend and cousin’s son arrived in Mumbai from Australia. I reached
the next day. On the 24th, my brother Saeed Dawood, my cousin Shakeel Dawood,
my friend from the UK, Mohammed Aswat, my nephew, Imran Dawood and Yusuf, a
driver from our village Lajpur near Surat, took a jeep tour to Jaipur. After
visiting Jaipur, they were returning to Ahmedabad via Himmatnagar on February
28.

At Prantij, they were
stopped by a mob of 15-20 persons. In no time, another mob of 40-100 arrived,
circled the jeep and demanded to know from the occupants, "Are you
Muslim or Hindu?" The answer, that they were British citizens, was
not enough for the mob. "What about the driver?" they asked. Without
waiting for an answer, Yusuf was dragged out and the moment they had
established his religious identity, he was attacked with sticks and dhariyas
(a sharp agricultural implement) and killed on the spot.

Imran, Mohammed,
Saeed and Shakeel, who ran towards a farmhouse to save their lives, were
chased by the mob. When I met and spoke to the woman owner of the farmhouse
some days later, obviously scared for her own life, she spoke to us sparingly.

The fact remains that
around 6.30 p.m. that fateful evening, a police team found Mohammed, who was
near dead, and Imran, who was unconscious, on a dirt track that runs along the
canal. At the Prantij clinic to which the police took them, Dr. Dongri
pronounced Mohammed dead while Imran was in such a state of shock, even after
regaining consciousness, that he could not talk.

My brother Saeed and
Shakeel were last seen by the woman from the farmhouse, running to save their
lives. Since then there is no trace of them.

Ever since the
ghastly incident, we have been in touch with the British Foreign office, the
British House of Parliament and the British Home Secretary, Jack Straw.

The British Consul
General, Ian Reeds, and I visited the site of the killings, along with the
Gujarat DGP and the Ahmedabad CP on March 8. The lady at the farmhouse was not
very cooperative but Dr. Dongri was very forthcoming.

During our visit, we
found a totally burnt down factory about 100-200 yards away from where
Mohammed and Imran had been picked up by the police. Behind the factory
structure, we came across a spot where it looked like a fire had been built
possibly to burn dead bodies. A little distance away, we found some teeth and
bones which we have sent for DNA sampling.

Dr. Gandhi, the
forensics expert from Hyderabad, is looking at the whole issue after taking
the blood samples of my aunt and uncle in Lajpur. We expect the report in a
few weeks.

The police have given
us a copy of the FIR lodged by them and said they have arrested 17 people. My
nephew Imran, the only one to have miraculously escaped, is presently back in
our native village. He is still in shock and therefore not always very
coherent. But he seems to recall that while they were being set upon, a police
jeep was driving past but they did not stop to help.

We have written to
the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs, India) and the FCO is also following up
with the MEA. As far as the murder investigation is concerned, Salman Kazi
(related to Mohammed Aswat) has written a note to the Home Department in
Britain. And we are actively pursuing the case to find out what exactly
happened in Mohammed’s and Yusuf’s case.

As far as my brother
Saeed and cousin Shakeel are concerned, they have been put in the ‘missing’
category. They have young families back home in Britain and it is traumatic to
think of how we will deal with the tragedy. One part of us is convinced that
they will simply reappear one day, while another part awaits the test results
with dread.

For both the
investigations, we have obtained the FIRs and the post-mortem reports. We were
very impressed by Dr. Dongri’s professionalism and desire to help. We worry
about his safety.

The whole saga has
been reported on BBC, Star Television and even the Gujarati papers. We are
talking to Group 4 and we have written to Indian authorities to carry out a
proper search of the area; to speak to the family at the farmhouse, to even
offer them a reward because we know she spoke to both Saeed and Shakeel. The
Group 4 secretariat has contacted my mother and other persons in the village.

James Watt from the
chamber of FCO, had a meeting with Salman Kazi, Ahmed Aswat and Salim Dawood
in UK. We have also taken a delegation to the Indian High Commissioner in UK,
PC Haldar.

We want to know what
kind of pressure was put on the Surat police. My relatives were carrying an
expensive Camcorder. What happened to it? Who were the policemen who passed by
but did not help? Police Inspector DK Vankar from the Prantij police station
could be an important witness because he picked up Imran and Mohammed that
evening.